The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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High-Performance Window Install
When I first started installing windows in the 1990s we were using Tyvek HomeWrap as our water resistive barrier (WRB) and made the now-infamous X-cut at our windows, folding the…
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A Beginner’s Guide to HVAC Design
In simpler times, choosing heating and cooling equipment amounted to calling a contractor or two, getting what seemed like a good price, and letting the contractor do the rest. Those…
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Straightforward Air Sealing Strategies
I built my first home for a customer back in 2000, I’ve learned a lot since then. One of the areas I’ve learned the most is in building tightness. These…
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Webinar: All About Double-Stud Walls
Following up on popular articles here on GBA and in FHB, Dan Kolbert and Ben Bogie of Kolbert Building in Portland, Maine sat down with us for a more informal…
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Best Practices for Dry, Healthy Basements
Growing up in New England, I thought that all houses had basements. Whether it had a dirt floor and stone walls or was a nicely finished space, in my mind…
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Where Does the Heat Pump Water Heater Go?
I installed my first heat pump water heater about eight years ago for a client whose roof was not appropriate for the solar hot water system I wanted to use.…
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Webinar: Walls That Work–An Intro to the Four Control Layers
There's more than one way to build a durable and efficient wall. Like most things, the devil is in the details—and in this case, the details refers to the four…
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Keeping Ducts Where they Belong
Ducts running through unconditioned attics or crawlspaces can create problems in all climates. Undesirable positive or negative pressurization, moisture and mold issues, and increased energy costs are often the result.…
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Sizing Up the Carbon Problem
These are troubling times for conscientious architects and builders. A 2019 report from the U.N. Environment Programme offers a “bleak” outlook in progress toward controlling greenhouse gas emissions and holding…
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Air-to-Water Heat Pump Retrofit
Air-to-water heat pumps generate a lot of buzz, but is anyone installing them? When we purchased our hydronics-based home in 2015, I was intrigued by the prospect of replacing the…
